Wintrust Financial Corporation $WTFC Shares Sold by Exchange Traded Concepts LLC

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC trimmed its stake in Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) by 80.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,751 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 7,301 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Wintrust Financial were worth $245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wintrust Financial by 75.3% in the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 312 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of Wintrust Financial in the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. 93.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Wintrust Financial from $170.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $165.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $167.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Wintrust Financial from $178.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Wintrust Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.62.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider David Eric Lee sold 558 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.42, for a total transaction of $82,260.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 16,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,371,250.70. This trade represents a 3.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard B. Murphy sold 3,291 shares of Wintrust Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.05, for a total value of $480,650.55. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 46,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,725,456.45. The trade was a 6.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,662 shares of company stock valued at $1,705,730. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wintrust Financial Stock Performance

Shares of WTFC stock opened at $140.34 on Tuesday. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a 1-year low of $91.07 and a 1-year high of $162.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $9.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $144.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.70.

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $3.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.22. Wintrust Financial had a return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 19.48%.The business had revenue of $714.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $700.85 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.63 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Wintrust Financial Corporation will post 10.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wintrust Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 5th. This is a positive change from Wintrust Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Wintrust Financial’s payout ratio is 19.30%.

Wintrust Financial Company Profile

Wintrust Financial Corporation is a Chicago‐area bank holding company headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois. Through its primary subsidiary, Wintrust Bank, the company operates a network of community banks serving metropolitan Chicago and select markets in southeastern Wisconsin. These locally branded banks provide personalized commercial and consumer banking solutions tailored to small and mid‐size businesses, professionals, and individual clients.

The firm’s core offerings include deposit products, commercial and residential lending, treasury management, and mortgage banking services.